


Miscommunication

by dreamsofspike



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-28
Updated: 2010-07-28
Packaged: 2017-10-10 20:18:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/103855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsofspike/pseuds/dreamsofspike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam begins to feel a little neglected when nothing he says or does seems to faze Kris in the slightest -- so, he comes up with a plan. But -- okay -- I never said it was a <i>good</i> plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: dom/sub, violence

Sometimes, Adam thought Kris was just a little _too_ nice.

It was part of his charm, at first – his calm, easy-going nature and easy smile, his seemingly endless patience with other people’s flaws or slights, accidental or otherwise. Adam was surprised – and charmed – when a hurried stagehand rudely shoved past Kris as they waited backstage during Hollywood Week, and Kris responded with a smile and a quick, “excuse me”.

Where Adam came from, that kind of rudeness would have merited a very different reaction.

Adam thought that if it had been him in Kris’s place, he would have flipped the guy off behind his back, and probably said something sweetly sarcastic enough to be cutting – just enough to draw the clueless stagehand’s attention to his rudeness.

Adam had learned early that most people gave him exactly the amount of respect he demanded as his due. He had dealt with countless instances of disrespect, mostly due to other people’s ignorance and prejudice, and had developed his self-confidence to the point that he had no problem speaking up in his own defense, or in defense of others, whenever necessary.

Kris, on the other hand, always seemed to assume the best of other people’s motivations, no matter how offensive their actions might seem to be. He always responded with a warm smile and an accepting attitude – though that attitude did not seem to be the result of low self-esteem, or fear of speaking up. Adam had seen Kris stand up for his friends on several occasions, and knew that there was no lack of self-confidence there.

Truth be told, Kris Allen challenged Adam’s entire world view.

_Looks like the plain and simple ‘nice guy’ actually does exist, after all…_

_… huh._

From that moment of enlightenment on – Adam was hopelessly fascinated.

As their relationship progressed, however, Adam began to worry that maybe all was not as well as it appeared to be. When they reached the six month mark, and had yet to experience their first fight – well, Adam couldn’t help but think that that was not exactly normal.

_Drake and I didn’t make it through the first_ week _before we had a fight – and Brad and I had that argument about an hour after we made it official…_

It wasn’t that Kris and Adam never disagreed on anything. With such differing backgrounds and personalities, it was inevitable that their opinions would occasionally clash; and that had definitely occurred on several different occasions. However, every time they came close to an actual argument, Kris would easily back down and accept Adam’s point of view.

At first, Adam enjoyed getting his way, grateful to have found someone who was so easy to get along with.

After the first few times, however – it began to bother him.

_Does he not feel comfortable enough with me to tell me what he really thinks? Is he afraid of starting a fight, so he just goes along with it and keeps his real feelings inside?_

Adam thought that if that was the case, it would be more obvious. In the wake of these near-fights that never quite happened, Kris never seemed to be tense or irritable. He was just as calm and laid back as ever. Adam knew Kris well enough to know that he didn’t have much of a poker face. If Kris was hiding his anger, Adam was pretty sure he’d be able to tell.

It wasn’t as if there was anything overtly _wrong _that Adam could put his finger on. Kris was loving and affectionate, and certainly seemed to want him in all the right ways – and all the time, for that matter. There wasn’t anything he could pinpoint that was – _lacking_, in their relationship. It just seemed that nothing Adam did or said could shake his unflappable calm and contentment. Things that would have thrown any of Adam’s previous boyfriends into the midst of a full fledged tantrum seemed to have no effect on Kris’s good spirits.

_So… maybe he really is just that nice a guy. Maybe it really doesn’t bother him. Maybe he doesn’t care enough to argue about it…_

A sick sensation settled in the pit of Adam’s stomach as he considered another possibility, one that began to chip away at the edges of his well-established self-confidence.

_Or… maybe he just doesn’t care enough… about _me_._

It was that troubling thought, and the insecurities it awakened, that drove Adam to action. He knew it was childish – not to mention potentially disastrous – but he had to see how far Kris would allow himself to be pushed before reaching his breaking point. If he _did_ reach it, Adam told himself – then maybe that would be a _good_ thing. It had to happen eventually, didn’t it? If Kris was really just trying to be nice and holding back a lot of resentment and anger over things they should have been working out, then maybe Adam could push him to let all of that out so they could deal with it.

And if there was nothing he was holding back – well, then maybe there was nothing there _to_ hold back.

Maybe there was nothing there at all.

**************************************

Kris let out a muffled groan of protest as Adam flopped down onto the bed beside him, deliberately shaking him out of the light sleep into which he’d fallen. Adam just rolled his eyes, his mouth twitching with amusement as he pushed at Kris’s shoulder until he reluctantly rolled over to face him, blinking up at him through sleepy eyes.

“What?” he mumbled. “’M sleepin’.”

“What are you doing tonight?” Adam’s  smile was bright and flirtatious as his hand gentled to a caress, trailing down Kris’s arm from his shoulder.

Kris was silent for a moment before repeating flatly, one eyebrow raised in a dubious expression, “_Sleeping_. Or… I _was_, anyway. ”

“I feel like dancing,” Adam announced as if Kris had not spoken at all. “Wanna go?”

“No,” Kris mumbled, already rolling over away from Adam, closing his eyes again. “I have a thing tomorrow…”

“Photo shoot?”

“No, a… singing… thing…” Adam couldn’t help but smile at the frustrated frown that wrinkled Kris’s brow when he found himself too out of it to remember the simple word he was looking for.

“Is that anything like a _performance_?” Adam teased him, nudging his shoulder again.

“I don’t know,” Kris replied, fading fast. “Gotta get up early…”

“Okay.” Adam shrugged. He had a contingency plan for maximum irritation, regardless of Kris’s answer to his invitation. “I’ll go myself, then.”

He got up off the bed, going to the closet to pick out a jacket to wear. He waited until he was pretty sure Kris would be nearly asleep again to speak up, his voice deliberately loud enough to cut through the haze of exhaustion.

“You’re sure you don’t mind?”

“What?” Kris sighed, his voice hoarse and weary.

“Me…” Adam’s voice was soft, and he swallowed hard before continuing, glad that Kris was too out of it to notice the vulnerable note to his voice that he couldn’t quite cover. “… dancing with a bunch of random hotties.”

“I don’t mind you _kissing_ random hotties on stage, but I’m supposed to care if you _dance_ with ‘em?” Kris’s tone was still calm and disinterested, but Adam thought he sounded suspiciously more alert than he should have sounded, given his level of sleepiness. “Eh. Knock yourself out. Have fun, darlin’.”

Adam couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment at Kris’s unintentionally hurtful words. He knew better than to take them too seriously – knew that Kris was half asleep and probably utterly unaware of what he was saying – and yet, it stung to think that Kris didn’t even care what he did.

_In any of your other relationships, you’d have been grateful for the freedom…_ he reminded himself, feeling a little silly for his own emotions. _So why the freak out now, just because it’s Kris?_

_Oh – that would be why. Just because it’s_ Kris.

Adam stayed out later than he really wanted to, and didn’t really have nearly as much fun as he might have under better circumstances. It was nearly three when he arrived home, making as much of a racket as possible undressing in a deliberate attempt to disturb Kris’s sleep and thereby gain his attention. Kris didn’t even stir until Adam threw himself down on the bed again, jostling Kris so hard that he nearly fell off on his side of the bed.

“Oops, did I wake you?” Adam whispered loudly, eyes wide and full of false innocence. “I’m sorry, I… I didn’t mean to get home so late…”

“What time is it?”

Adam braced himself, actually hoping for the explosion that would surely come when Kris realized how long he’d been gone. “Almost three. I’m sorry, I…”

“That’s okay,” Kris murmured, turning over and drawing Adam into his arms automatically. “Glad you had a good time…”

Adam’s heart sank with disappointment – but he didn’t give up there.

_Kris knows dancing doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Maybe it’s normal that he’s not jealous. But playing the ex-boyfriend card – maybe_ that’ll _do the trick…_

After much begging and pleading and promising to protect him should Kris become _too_ jealous, Adam managed to convince Brad to help him with Phase Two of his plan. All Brad had to do was to call Adam late at night with a fake emergency, so that Adam could go to see him and stay all night – and hopefully piss Kris off to the point of finally breaking down and having a much needed confrontation.

“Or, you know… you could _talk_ to him,” Brad suggested flatly when Adam detailed his plan to him. “Let him know that you’re feeling ignored and shit…”

“Or _not_,” Adam snorted. “Please. Like I’d actually _tell_ him that.”

“God, no,” Brad drawled, rolling his eyes. “That’d be _easy_.”

“Brad,” Adam whined, too desperate at this point to care about the desperation in his voice, “are you gonna help me or not? _Please_.”

Despite his none-too-gentle mockery, there was never really any doubt as to what Brad’s answer would be.

When the phone rang the following evening at a little after ten, Adam knew who it would be, but pretended not to notice, waiting for Kris to answer it. After a moment’s brief conversation, Kris handed the phone to Adam with a sigh and a roll of his eyes. As patient as Kris usually was, Adam had found that Brad’s over-developed sense of drama was one thing that _could_ manage to get on his nerves.

He talked for a few minutes, employing his acting skills to make himself sound concerned and caring in response to Brad’s warnings about how he’d better make sure Kris didn’t come after him with a shotgun – _“You know how those rednecks are about their guns!”_ – mingled in with dirty jokes intended to throw Adam off his game and make him laugh. Kris could only hear Adam’s side of the conversation, and Brad enjoyed taking full advantage of that knowledge.

Adam hung up the phone as quickly as possible, raising a hand to run down over his face as he let out a put upon sigh.

“What?” Kris asked, frowning slightly. “Is everything okay?”

“No,” Adam admitted, shaking his head. “He’s got some kind of crisis going on, and he needs me to go over there for a little while. You don’t mind, do you?”

Kris barely hesitated before shrugging and replying. “Nah. You’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do, right? He’s your friend, so… go be his friend.”

Kris rose from the couch, stopping as he passed Adam to pull him down for a soft, tender kiss before proceeding on his way up the stairs to their room. The warmth and affection of that kiss mingled with Adam’s confusion and uncertainty until he wasn’t exactly sure _what_ he was feeling – only that in that moment, he wanted nothing more than to follow Kris up those stairs and into their bed, and pour out all of his fears and insecurities in the loving shelter of his boyfriend’s arms.

Of course, that longing was immediately followed by the fear of the huay :Pmiliation he would feel at Kris’s finding out how deeply insecure he’d been these past few weeks – or worse, at finding out beyond all doubt that Kris’s acceptance was really just a mask for indifference.

In the end, Adam left and went to Brad’s apartment – and didn’t come home that night.

When his phone rang the following morning around five, Adam held his breath for a moment as he stared down at Kris’s name, blinking on the screen. He braced himself, certain that this was it – this was the moment when Kris would lose control of the façade he’d been maintaining for so long and let his jealous side show. He took a deep breath and pushed the receive button.

“Hello?”

Kris’s voice was quiet and concerned, but without a trace of anger. “Hey. You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m still at Brad’s.”

“Oh.” Kris paused a moment before adding, clearly as an afterthought, “Is _he_ okay?”

“Yeah.” Adam made his tone careless and unconcerned. “It wasn’t really that big a deal. We just… lost track of time.”

“Oh, okay.” Kris actually sounded _relieved_. “You had me worried. Glad everything’s okay. You coming home soon?”

Adam’s heart sank and he closed his eyes as he replied automatically. “Yeah, in just a little bit.”

“Okay.” Kris was quiet for a moment before he added, “Next time, do me a favor and call, okay? Let me know what time you’ll be home?”

“Okay,” Adam agreed, feeling utterly defeated.

The calm in Kris’s voice made the concern that was there as well nothing more than an added frustration.

“Adam. Sweetie.” Brad gave him a knowing look, shaking his head incredulously. “_Talk to him_.”

“No,” Adam insisted, staring down at his phone. “Not yet.”

“Then what are you going to do?” Brad demanded. “You’ll make yourself sick like this…”

“No.” Adam squared his shoulders with determination, eyes narrowing as a new idea occurred to him. “I’ll just have to up my game a little bit…” He looked up at Brad with a slow, sly smile on his lips. “I know just what to do. This will spark his jealous side for sure!”

Brad’s expression was unusually serious as he sat down on the sofa beside Adam, giving him a skeptical look. “And if it doesn’t?”

Adam’s smile faded and he looked away again, his voice soft and uncertain when at last he replied. “Then… he doesn’t have one.”


	2. Chapter 2

“This is a very bad idea, Adam.”

Adam sipped his drink with an innocent smile, ignoring Brad’s warning as he scanned the room for a likely prospect to use for his latest – and ultimate – plan to incur Kris’s jealousy.

“Do you really even think this is necessary?” Brad persisted. “The fact that he’s _here _tonight is evidence that he cares.”

Adam raised a single brow in dubious question, letting out a soft, sarcastic huff. “How do you figure?”

“He _hates_ me. The only reason he’d show up to _my_ birthday party is if he was scared to let you be alone with me without him there – which he obviously is after that last stunt I helped you pull,” Brad explained. “So there’s really no point in going through with this…”

Adam had chosen the night of Brad’s birthday party as the perfect time to put the final phase of his plan into action. The party was being held at a very exclusive club where no paparazzi were allowed inside – which would prevent the surfacing of incriminating pictures after the fact – and Adam would have the moral support of his friend to help him go through with his rather daring plan.

Except, at the moment – Brad utterly failed at providing said moral support.

“Kris doesn’t hate you,” Adam objected, his tone distracted as his gaze swept the crowded club. “And if he did, he’d _still_ come to your birthday party, with _me_ – because you’re my friend, and he’s my boyfriend, and he’s the prince of good southern manners.” Adam paused barely a moment before nodding and tilting his glass slightly in the direction of a pretty brunette dancing across the room. “That one.”

“What if you piss him off a lot more than you’re planning to, Adam?” Brad warned.

Adam let out a derisive _pfft_ sound, his lips set in a tight line, his eyes betraying the barest glimpse of hurt as he retorted almost under his breath. “Not likely. He barely noticed when I spent the night with you. He’ll probably just ask me if I’m having fun and then turn and walk away.”

“But… the whole point of this plan is… you’re _hoping _that he _won’t_ do that,” Brad pointed out. “I just think you should be prepared for the consequences if it works out the way you’re hoping.”

But Adam was already halfway across the room, eyes narrowed over a predatory smile as he closed in on the pretty piece of eye candy who was going to help him regain his boyfriend’s interest.

************************************

Kris was relieved to find that there were quite a few guests at Brad’s party that he found much less irritating than Brad himself, and he busied himself making small talk with them, and keeping away from the bar, where Adam stood next to the man of the hour, sipping his drink. Kris didn’t feel like putting up with Brad at the moment. Lately, for some reason, he found him more irritating than ever.

Still, he couldn’t help sneaking glances toward the bar every minute or so, wishing Adam would walk away from Brad for a few minutes so he could talk to him.

He was afraid of what he might do if he actually had to talk to _Brad_.

_Adam said they just lost track of time – and that’s what happened,_ he told himself for the hundredth time since his early morning phone call to Adam a few days earlier. _It’s no big deal. They’re just good friends. Nothing to worry about.___

_Just…_ really _good friends… who happen to have… used to sleep together… ___

_And still… occasionally… have sleepovers…_ __

No, Kris was here because it would look bad if Adam’s boyfriend did not attend the party with him – but he knew better than to go anywhere near Brad tonight.

He glanced up again toward the bar, feeling a vague sense of relief when he noticed that Brad was alone, leaning against it and surveying the room. Kris followed his gaze, looking for Adam – then froze, his stomach lurching with a sensation of horrified disbelief when at last, he found him. Adam was across the room, entangled with some random stranger in a dark corner – and apparently attempting to use his tongue to perform a tonsillectomy.

Kris strode across the room without hesitation, some part of him that was less in tune with reality than his eyes insisting that there had to be some logical explanation. Perhaps Adam was kissing this guy on a dare, or as a joke, or… Kris’s eyes widened as he watched the strangers hand slip downward from Adam’s waist toward more intimate territory – and Adam do nothing to stop him.

_No. There is no logical explanation that makes_ that _okay…___

He cleared his throat as he reached them, folding his arms across his chest and waiting as Adam lazily withdrew from the kiss to give him a casually questioning look.

“Yes?”

Kris raised a single brow, feeling a low, furious heat beginning to build in his chest at Adam’s flippant tone and teasing smirk. His voice was taut, clipped and warning as he finally found his voice and managed to speak.

“Having fun?”

“Yeah, actually,” Adam replied, glancing appreciatively back toward the stranger, whose pretty face Kris very much wanted to punch through the mirrored wall behind him. “I am.”

Kris’s jaw worked with repressed emotion as he struggled to control the rage coursing through him. His fists clenched at his sides, aching to make contact with yielding flesh – to shatter the calm curiosity of the stranger whose hands were _still_ all over _Kris’s_ boyfriend – or worse, to wipe the smug, careless smirk off of _Adam’s_ face.

That was when Kris knew that he had to get out of there, before he did something he’d regret.

“Good for you,” he muttered, spinning on his heel and striding quickly toward the door.

*******************************

Adam’s stomach dropped as he watched Kris walk away, his fury obvious in his swift, purposeful pace. Suddenly, he felt sick with the utter certainty that Brad had been right all along – this had been a _terrible_ plan. He gradually realized that the young man he’d been making out with was still touching him, trying to engage him again – but Adam just pushed him away, heedless of his indignant sound of protest as he started hesitantly toward the men’s room door through which Kris had just disappeared.

“Wait.” Brad intercepted him with a gentle hand on his arm, though his tone was sharp and authoritative. “I’ve got this.”

Adam shook his head, bewildered, and tried to push past Brad to the bathroom, but Brad persistently blocked his way, waiting until Adam met his eyes to continue in a firm yet understanding tone.

“Let me talk to him first,” he insisted softly. “If you go in there right now, it’s going to get ugly.”

Adam didn’t understand how Brad thought _he _would get any better reaction out of Kris than Adam himself would – but he was too stunned and shaken by Kris’s unexpected quiet fury to protest much. He nodded dumbly as Brad headed for the men’s room door.

*********************************

“Enjoying my party?”

“Get out,” Kris snarled without hesitation, his voice low and trembling and nothing like his usual mild, easy tone. He was glaring at Brad’s reflection in the mirror, his hands clenched around the sides of the sink, visibly struggling to rein in his temper.

“My party.” Brad shrugged, though he kept a wary distance from the other man – who, though no taller than him, was certainly better built.

Kris closed his eyes, trembling with fury, as he drew in a slow breath and let it out, struggling for control. When he spoke again, his voice was slightly less threatening, carrying a note of sorrow and defeat.

“_Please_. Just… just leave me alone.”

“Don’t you even wanna know why he did it?”

Kris looked up with a puzzled frown, and Brad felt a rush of sympathy when he saw the tears shining in his eyes. “What?”

“Or does Adam _usually_ just make out with random guys in clubs right in front of you?”

“No,” Kris muttered looking away. “He saves that for the stage.”

Brad tilted his head slightly in concentration, venturing a step closer to Kris, his eyes narrowed speculatively. “And… that _bothers_ you?”

Kris looked at him as if he was quite possibly the stupidest person on the planet, not bothering to dignify the question with an actual verbal answer.

He didn’t have to.

Brad frowned, puzzled. “But… you don’t care if he goes out to clubs without you? Spends the night with his unbelievably hot ex-boyfriends?”

Brad instantly thought better of the last question when Kris stood up straight, turning to face him with his eyes narrowed in anger.

“_Of course_ I do!” Kris snapped. “Not that that would matter to you! To _either_ of you, apparently!” He shook his head, raising one hand to cover his face for a moment before lowering it in an angry, frustrated gesture as the words seemed to explode out of him. “I know Adam’s life is very different than mine and I’ve _tried_ to be as understanding as I know how to be, but… but there are just some things…” He shook his head again, at a loss, before meeting Brad’s eyes with a helpless expression. “I don’t want him to think I’m trying to control him – that I’m some kind of jealous, possessive jerk or something – you know?”

“Kris…” Brad tried to suppress the smirk of amusement that rose to his lips, but couldn’t quite manage it. “I think what Adam _needs_ right now… is that jealous, possessive jerk.”

Kris frowned in confusion. “Huh?”

“Okay…” Brad took a moment to compose his thoughts, suppressing his smile as he ventured a little closer to Kris, his hands extended in front of him in a cautious gesture. “… this may come as a bit of a shock… but, Kris… there’s a little something you need to know about your boyfriend…”

*****************************************

Adam sat in a booth across from the men’s room, waiting anxiously for any sign of Kris or Brad, for what felt like an eternity. He was trembling inside, his mouth dry and his stomach quaking with fear that he had pushed the test too far – broken Kris’s trust to the point that he had driven him away – lost him for good.

The very thought made him feel like he was going to be sick.

He rested his elbows on the table and his face in his hands, struggling to fight back the sense of impending panic creeping over him.

_There has to be something I can do… some way I can make it up to him… God, I wanted to make him_ jealous, _but I never wanted to…___

“Adam.”

Adam looked up, startled by the sound of Kris’s voice, surprised to find him much nearer than he’d expected him to be. Kris was standing beside the other side of the booth, one hand resting on the table as he waited for Adam to respond. The hope Adam felt at his boyfriend’s return quelled at the sight of the restrained fury in Kris’s eyes, and he swallowed hard, waiting for Kris to go on.

“Get up.”

Adam felt an uneasy sensation in the pit of his stomach at Kris’s commanding tone. “Kris… what…?”

“Get up and head for the car. We’re going home,” Kris clarified, his voice dangerously calm and quiet.

Adam hesitated, unsure how to respond to this strange new version of his boyfriend. “I… I need to tell Brad…”

His words broke off abruptly with a stunned gasp as Kris closed the short distance between them with a single step, reaching out a hand to grip the back of his neck with just slightly more force than was comfortable, and leaning in close to speak mere inches away from Adam’s face.

“You don’t need to tell Brad anything,” Kris declared, his voice low and warning, his dark eyes blazing with a strange fire that Adam found both frightening and fascinating. “You don’t need to talk to anyone but me again tonight. I said we’re going.” His grip tightened slightly, and Adam tensed as Kris added in a clipped tone with a cool smile, “So shut your mouth… and _move… your… ass_.”

Adam was still for a moment, torn between alarm at this new side of Kris and relief that not only had he managed to provoke a reaction that _proved_ that Kris _did_ care what Adam did… but also that Kris had not given up on him, but had returned and seemed to want to work this out – one way or another.

What Kris’s way of “working it out” might be had Adam in a curious state of equal parts fear and arousal.

After a moment’s hesitation, he nodded once to indicate his obedience, and Kris released him, allowing him to slide out of the booth and rise to his feet. Kris waited with an expectant look until Adam headed toward the door, Kris following close behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

Adam’s heart pounded in his chest as Kris stepped back from the front door after opening it, gesturing silently for Adam to precede him inside.

Adam’s mind was racing, trying to process the startling – and a little alarming – change in his boyfriend that seemed to have taken place in the men’s room at the club. Adam wondered briefly what Brad had said to Kris, and whether it might have hurt more than it helped.

_But… this is what you wanted, isn’t it? He’s jealous and angry. .._ __

Adam’s breath caught in his throat as Kris grabbed him without warning, shoving him up against the door he’d just closed and pressing in close, hands grasping Adam’s wrists and pressing them against the door with surprising strength. Adam’s mouth went dry, his eyes wide as he took in the smoldering fury in Kris’s dark eyes, glaring up at him in accusation.

_I just… didn’t think he’d be_ this _angry…_

Kris’s voice was low and trembling when at last he broke the tense, weighted silence that had fallen between them.

“What the hell were you thinking?”

Adam was silent, studying Kris’s expression in breathless apprehension, taking in the hurt behind the rage in Kris’s eyes – and suddenly remembering his _own_ hurt, the hurt that had led to this plan in the first place. His jaw set with stubborn defiance, as he forced back the tears that threatened to form in his eyes.

“What does it matter?” Adam whispered, a challenge in the barely audible words. “You said you didn’t care if I kissed some random hot guy…”

“I said…”

Kris shook his head in bewilderment for a moment before going still, his eyes widening momentarily with understanding as the conversation in question came back to him. Slowly, his eyes narrowed and Adam tensed as Kris’s grip on his wrists tightened to a point that was almost but not quite painful. Kris shifted his body in closer to Adam’s, and the heat and pressure of Kris against him started a deep, aching tremor in Adam that he wasn’t sure whether to attribute to fear or desire.

“I said _on stage_.”

Kris ground out the words, reaching up to grasp the hair at the back of Adam’s neck and draw his head back slightly. Adam closed his eyes, his breath quickening as he fought to maintain his composure, and not allow Kris to see the effect he was having on him.

It was a battle lost before it had even begun.

Kris’s voice lowered to a whisper, his breath ghosting across Adam’s skin, past his parted lips, as Kris added in a slow, measured voice, “And I _didn’t mean_ _it_.”

Adam’s relief at those words was nearly overwhelming. His shoulders shook and his eyes burned with the tears that were suddenly much harder to hold back. Kris’s mouth was barely a breath away, and Adam instinctively turned his head toward him, trembling lips seeking the reassurance of a kiss. Kris abruptly withdrew, his hand tightening in Adam’s hair and drawing his head back.

“You think I want to kiss you – touch you – when you still taste like _him_?” Kris’s tone was soft but almost vicious as he released his grip on Adam’s hair and took a step backward. “Go wash his taste out of your mouth – take a shower – then wait for me in the bedroom.” Kris hesitated a moment before adding, “Don’t get dressed afterward.”

Adam could not deny the deepening arousal he felt at Kris’s harsh, commanding tone, as well as the none-too-subtle implications of his orders. However, the faint glimmer of uncertainty in Kris’s eyes did not quite match the calm authority in his voice, and Adam suddenly had a flash of understanding. He stepped slowly away from the wall, searching Kris’s face with a piercing gaze. His voice was soft and knowing as he asked a cautious question.

“What exactly did you and Brad talk about?”

For an instant there was a trapped look in Kris’s wide, dark eyes – but then it vanished behind a cold mask, and Kris simply turned away without answering. Adam watched him disappear into the kitchen, momentarily torn between following him and pursuing the answer to his question – and going upstairs to obey Kris’s commands.

He knew that his decision could determine not only the course of the rest of the evening, but of their relationship as well.

_Damn you, Brad. Can’t keep a secret to save your life, can you? We’ll be having a talk about this later… but… for now…_ __

Adam took a deep breath. His decision had really been made back at the club, when Kris had ordered him to his feet.

He brushed his teeth and rinsed his mouth with mouthwash, then took a shower for good measure, wanting to ensure that any trace of the cologne the boy at the club had been wearing was washed away. He dried off with a towel held in trembling hands, leaving his hair damp and loose around his face, not bothering to reapply any of his makeup.

He was pretty sure Kris did not intend to leave him anything to hide behind.

Adam stood awkwardly a few yards from the bedroom door, then reconsidered and sat down nervously on the edge of the bed. Then, he reconsidered again, settling on the place and position in which he was sure Kris would be most pleased to find him.

When Kris finally walked through the bedroom door, he froze in the doorway, drawing in his breath in an audible gasp, before breathing out in a hushed, almost awed tone.

“_Adam_…”

*********************************

Adam stared up at him through wide, vulnerable eyes, shivering slightly in the cool draft Kris had created by opening the door. He was positioned with his back near the side of the bed – utterly exposed, naked and on his knees with his hands clasped loosely behind his back. His face was clean and bare, revealing the freckles he seemed to hate so much, that only made him that much more beautiful in Kris’s eyes. The damp clumps of dark hair that fell around his eyes only increased the image of innocence and vulnerability he portrayed, and Kris found that he couldn’t stay away any longer.

He swiftly crossed the room to stand over his kneeling boyfriend, reaching out a hand to play slowly through the silky strands of hair framing his face. Adam’s lips trembled as they parted hesitantly, and Adam’s voice was soft and submissive when he spoke.

“I-I’m sorry…”

“Quiet.” Kris’s softly commanding tone instantly silenced him, and Kris was surprised and a little alarmed at the way Adam’s immediate submission heightened his gradually intensifying arousal. “I’ll do the talking. You’ll keep your mouth shut, for now. I have a few things _I_ need to say. Do you understand?”

Adam held his gaze, trusting and solemn, nodding slowly.

Kris crouched slowly in front of Adam, his hand in his hair tightening slowly, relishing the soft gasp of mingled need and alarm that left Adam’s lips as his head fell back slightly and he closed his eyes. Kris cautiously lowered his free hand to rest on the soft skin at Adam’s side, just above his hip, which felt cool from the lingering moisture from his shower. Adam shivered slightly under his hand, and Kris imagined how heated his touch must feel on Adam’s skin.

“I’m the one who should be sorry,” Kris whispered, shaking his head slowly.

Adam opened his eyes, confusion in his expression, though he remained obediently silent.

“I let you think I didn’t care what you did,” Kris explained softly, his grip on Adam’s hair easing to a slow, gentle caress. “I didn’t want to come off as… controlling, or… or jealous.” A slight, ironic smile played about his lips as he added, “Who would have guessed that was what you _wanted – needed_ – from me?”

Kris fell forward from his crouched position, onto his knees, carefully straddling Adam’s folded knees so that the rough denim of his jeans brushed against Adam’s exposed, swiftly hardening cock. Adam let out a soft, shuddering gasp, leaning back against the side of the bed as Kris lowered one hand between them to press his thumb in a slow circle around the head of his erection, his other hand grasping the back of Adam’s head and pulling him in close to whisper in his ear in a voice that was dangerously soft and intense.

“I _do_ care what you do – and who you do it with, Adam. You’re _mine_ – and nobody else gets to touch you. Is that clear?”

Adam nodded shakily, his breath quick and ragged as Kris pressed a slow, insistent circle into the underside of his erection with his thumb.

“Kris,” he gasped. “Kris, _please_…”

“Shhh,” Kris softly warned him, stilling his hand at a point of excruciating pressure.

Adam bit back a strangled whimper of need and frustration, nodding eagerly to indicate his willingness to obey.

“That’s good, baby,” Kris murmured in his ear. “Good boy… now I’m gonna get up… and I want you to lie down on the bed on your back, okay?” Adam nodded again, hurriedly, and Kris stroked an affectionate hand down the side of his face, leaning in to press a tender kiss to his brow. “That’s my good boy…”

*****************************

Kris rose to his feet, then extended a hand to take Adam’s and help him to his feet. Adam kept his head bowed, his face flushed with a confusing mixture of arousal and embarrassment as he obediently lay down on the bed. Kris followed him, kneeling lightly on the mattress close beside him.

“Put your hands over your head,” he instructed quietly. “Hold onto the headboard and don’t let go unless I tell you to.”

Adam obeyed, feeling a shiver of apprehension at how utterly exposed and vulnerable he felt in this position, laid out before Kris’s eyes and touch. He trembled as Kris’s hands circled his wrists firmly for a moment before trailing slowly down his arms to his shoulders. Adam’s breath caught in his throat as Kris’s right hand cupped the side of his neck, tilting his head back before claiming his mouth in a deep, forceful kiss.

Though Adam’s eyes were closed, he could hear that Kris was breathless, too, when at last he drew back, his low, warning words tickling Adam’s skin.

“That’s mine. No one else should ever get to kiss you. No one else ever will, again – will they?”

Adam shook his head, feeling something swell up within his chest, constricting his throat, at the possessive need in Kris’s voice, the eager desire in his touch as his hands edged gradually further down Adam’s body, inching down his torso and then around to his sides, moments before Adam felt the soft, damp heat of Kris’s mouth on his chest. He couldn’t help arching up into the contact, but Kris’s hands at his sides pushed him firmly down.

“Be still.”

Adam immediately obeyed, his hands flexing uselessly around the wooden slats of the headboard. He knew that he could let go at any time that he wanted – but he didn’t really want to. This was Kris’s show, and Adam was more than happy to let him use it to prove just how badly he really did want Adam, after all.

Adam’s thoughts were abruptly interrupted as Kris suddenly grasped the base of his erection in a firm fist. Adam let out a startled cry, automatically arching into the touch, his hands unconsciously releasing their grip on the headboard and edging downward. Immediately Kris let go, only to move up the bed again and shove Adam back down with a firm hand on his chest. He gripped Adam’s wrists and forcefully moved them back to the headboard, then leaned down to whisper against Adam’s ear, his voice both seductive and threatening at the same time.

“Let go again, and I’ll tie you down – and after what you did tonight, I just might leave you like this for a while. Would you like that, Adam?”

Adam shook his head frantically, wide eyes opening to search Kris’s face with alarm, afraid to see how serious he was about the troubling threat. Kris was smiling, but there was something dark and warning in his eyes – something that seemed to dare Adam to try him.

“Then _don’t. Move_.”

Satisfied that Adam would obey, Kris moved back down the bed, kneeling between Adam’s spread legs and pressing his hips down against the mattress firmly before finally taking his cock once more in a firm hand, sliding it slowly up and down.

“_This_ is mine, too,” he declared, momentarily tightening his grip until Adam let out a choked whimper of protest, his knuckles white and trembling around the headboard slats. “_You_ are mine. If anybody’s going to touch you, it’s going to be _me_.”

Adam nodded, barely remembering that Kris had ordered him to silence, biting back a mindless string of babbled pleas and promises as Kris’s hands pressed his hips down again, and Kris crouched between Adam’s legs, and all at once Adam could feel Kris’s breath against his aching erection, and longed for Kris to claim what was his. Even as he did, however, Kris kept one hand locked tightly around the base of Adam’s erection, preventing the very release his mouth was slowly, torturously working him toward.

Adam let out a soft moan as Kris withdrew his mouth, exposing Adam’s damp skin to the cool air around him, but without easing the grip of his hand.

“You can answer me now, Adam,” Kris informed him softly. “You’re never going to do what you did tonight again, are you?”

“No,” Adam whimpered, shaking his head desperately, his head thrown back, his breath coming in deep, heaving gasps. “No, Kris, no, I swear…”

“That’s right,” Kris murmured, stroking a slow circle around the head of Adam’s cock with one fingertip of his free hand, deliberately driving Adam mad with the sensation. “You’re mine… mine, and no one else’s. Say it.”

“I’m yours, Kris,” Adam whispered, his throat feeling almost too tight to choke out the words, his eyes burning with tears. “I am… I’m yours, I _am_…”

At last, Kris descended upon Adam’s desperate erection once more, and Adam nearly sobbed at the intensity of heat and pressure as he began to slowly suck him deeper and deeper into his mouth. Kris’s hand at his hip was a continued warning not to move, and Adam fought the instinct to thrust forward as Kris took his time, waiting until Adam was as deep inside his mouth as he could get him before swallowing slowly around him.

As he did so, he removed his hand at last from the base of Adam’s cock – and Adam’s release swept over him like the crest of a tidal wave, crashing against him and overwhelming him until he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, no longer remembered where he was or what was happening around him or anything at all except the sensation of that very moment.

When the flood of sensation began to slowly ebb away, Adam gradually became aware of the fact that Kris was beside him, turning him onto his side to face him, drawing him gently into his arms. Adam opened his eyes to find that his vision was momentarily blurred. He blinked a few times, his eyes finally coming into focus on the tender, affectionate expression on Kris’s face as he brushed Adam’s damp hair back from his brow, then wiped a thumb gently across his cheek.

It was only then that Adam realized that his face was streaked with tears. Kris leaned in slowly, tenderly, to kiss them away, before withdrawing to meet Adam’s eyes again. There was no anger in his voice as he shook his head slowly, wonderingly.

“When I saw you with him…”

“I’m sorry,” Adam whispered, his voice thick and husky with tears. “I only did it because – because I thought you didn’t care if I did or not. I did it just to – to make you jealous…”

Kris smiled softly, his fingers still playing lightly through Adam’s hair. “It worked.”

Adam was quiet for a moment, pensive, before his eyes narrowed and he looked up at Kris again, his lips pursed with annoyance. “So… Brad and his big mouth…”

“You should _thank _Brad and his big mouth,” Kris cut him off with a low chuckle. “Brad explained to me why you did it, and I told him that I didn’t get it. I thought you liked to be in control all the time – completely independent and self-sufficient and all – and I didn’t want to be controlling or get in the way of that. Brad told me that… that’s _usually_ true, but… but not always…”

Adam felt a hot blush creeping over his skin, and tucked his head, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

“I just… just need to know that you…”

“That I want you. That – what you do _matters_ to me. That _you_ matter to me – I know,” Kris finished for him when Adam’s voice trailed off. “I was trying to show you all that, but I was going about it all wrong. I thought I was proving to you that I could make concessions for the lifestyle you were used to – that I could deal with who you are as a person without having to put limits on what you can and can’t do…”

Adam looked up at Kris with a dubiously raised brow. “You must think ‘who I am as a person’ is a total slutbag.”

Kris laughed, leaning in to softly kiss away the offended expression on Adam’s face. He drew back, shaking his head as he offered reassurances. “No, not at all. In fact, that’s why that stuff you kept doing _did_ piss me off – because it shocked me that you’d think I was okay with it.”

The tension in Adam’s expression eased, and he let out a quiet laugh at the irony of the situation. “So… I guess we suck at communication.”

Kris leaned in to kiss him again, and this time Adam responded to the kiss. Kris drew back at last with a hopeful smile.

“Yeah… but looks like we’re getting better.”


End file.
